I'm fairly new to Angband (but not roguelikes, or I imagine I'd have died a lot more to get to this point), and have managed to survive to 1500'. Much of what I've read points to me trying to find stat gain potions until my stats have become respectable. That's a pretty clear goal, but recently my available equipment selection has broadened a lot, and I'm not totally sure what I should be using, or even keeping at my house (character dump is below).

My gut tells me that I should be using that Battle Axe of Westernesse I found on my last trip. While I might lose an attack switching out from the Defender Whip, the stat gains and larger dice combined with the acid branding my ring gives me seems like it should more than compensate. On the other hand, stealth and extra health regen seems pretty useful, too, and so far very few things that aren't uniques last more than one wave of attacks. That aside, what should I do with the artifact weapons I've found? Dethanc and Bloodspike don't seem so great, and the Lance is too heavy to be very good right now. Should I just sell the first two, and hold on to the Lance for the time being?

A few shorter questions:

-Should I keep using my Dwarven Bar Chain Mail or should I swap to Thalkettoth? I suppose this boils down to "is two points of str and con worth three dex and three speed, plus a few points of armor and rShard."

-I would really like the rConfuse Thengel provides, but dropping Thranduil would lose me rBlind and telepathy. Is that trade worthwhile? I'm suspecting "no," but...

-Should I just sell the *Destruction* staff? It doesn't seem likely that I will be able to use it with any real chance of success before I hit level 45 or so.

If anyone has any other advice (well, outside of 'find a better amulet' - really, I haven't come across anything that seemed much more useful than slow digestion yet), I'd appreciate it. Specifically, if there's anything I have I should be using (or ditching), or some item I don't have or might want that I should keep an eye out for, it'd be great to know, to give my slaughter sessions in the dungeon a little more direction.

Thanks for both of your feedback - I haven't played much this week, but swapping to the Westernesse and Thakelloth seems to have made my life even easier. I'd been using the axe for a while because it got an extra swing over Bloodspike, but a recent stat swap dropped several points from my str and has made Bloodspike a better choice. I've got an arsenal of other artifact weapons (I should probably cull some of the more boring daggers and such) now, but I imagine I eventually want to be using the Lance once I can get my strength high enough that I'm getting 4-5 blows with it a round.

Otherwise - how important is nexus resistance? While I've got Bloodspike, that's not a big deal, but I imagine it will eventually be swapped for someting else. I found the Full Plate of Isildur recently, so I can cover it (and confusion) if need be, but I'd be sad to lose Thakelloth's excellent bonuses.

Otherwise, looks like I'll be hanging around 1850-2000 for a while hunting for stat potions. Naturally, I find enough Charisma and Intelligence potions to bathe in, but I'm waiting for my first Strength one...

Otherwise - how important is nexus resistance? While I've got Bloodspike, that's not a big deal, but I imagine it will eventually be swapped for someting else. I found the Full Plate of Isildur recently, so I can cover it (and confusion) if need be, but I'd be sad to lose Thakelloth's excellent bonuses.

Nexus isn't very common and doesn't do a lot of damage, but the side-effects are annoying to disastrous: teleport-to, teleport, teleport-level, or stat swap. The resist will reduce the damage by up to 50% and nullify the side effects, in addition it grants you immunity to the teleport-level spell. I don't think it's the end of the world if you don't have it, just be sure to avoid all the nexus breathers.

Nexus isn't very common and doesn't do a lot of damage, but the side-effects are annoying to disastrous: teleport-to, teleport, teleport-level, or stat swap. The resist will reduce the damage by up to 50% and nullify the side effects, in addition it grants you immunity to the teleport-level spell. I don't think it's the end of the world if you don't have it, just be sure to avoid all the nexus breathers.

Are all of the side effects of nexus equally likely to occur?

I've dealt with my fair share of nexus hounds and experienced all of their forms of teleportation, but never a stat swap, at least not one that I've noticed.

They're not. Stat swap and teleport-level are 1/7 (and give a saving throw), teleport-to is 2/7, and teleport is 3/7, according to the spoiler file. I haven't verified the source but I doubt it's changed.